Training Video Production
Training video production is for the things your staff need to learn the same way every time, like how a process works or what the first week looks like. Most organisations already have a version of this in a manual nobody reads or an induction that's forgotten by Thursday. A good training film replaces it with something people will watch to the end, at the moment they need it.
A thirty minute conversation with the team. No obligation.
Why use video for training?
A training film says the same thing to the first person and the five hundredth, however busy the trainer is that day. It's there when someone needs it, before they do a task for the first time or when they've forgotten a step.
It's also the best way to show anything physical. Watching someone handle equipment or move through a site safely teaches more than a paragraph describing it, and for anything where getting it wrong could hurt someone, seeing it done properly matters.
What we make
Most of the corporate training videos we make fall into a few kinds. Onboarding films show new starters how the organisation works and what to expect, usually through the people they'll actually be working with. Compliance films cover the subjects that need a record of completion, such as health and safety or data protection, and they need to be accurate before they're anything else.
Process and skills films show how to do one specific thing, step by step, whether that's using a system or handling a situation with a customer. Product training helps sales and support teams understand what they're selling, and it often doubles as material for partners.
How a training video gets made
We start with a thirty minute conversation about who's learning and what they need to be able to do afterwards. We'll also ask how the films will reach people, because a learning platform and a link in a welcome email need different things. Then we work with your subject experts on the script, because accuracy comes from the people who do the job, and clarity is the part we bring.
For most training films we film your own people rather than presenters. Staff trust a colleague they recognise, and someone who does the task every day demonstrates it more naturally than an actor. We spend time with them before filming and let them talk in their own words wherever the content allows.
The edit adds the clarity. Titles and screen recordings go in where they help, and the sound is mixed so instructions are easy to follow on a laptop speaker. Delivery is in the formats your platform needs, with subtitles, and we can add captions in other languages if your teams need them.
Short modules that are easy to update
Products change and regulations are revised, so a single long training film goes out of date quickly. We plan training video production in short modules, each with one objective, that can be updated on their own. A changed process means reshooting one module and leaving the rest as they are.
Format follows the subject. Some training needs a proper location shoot with a small crew, and some works perfectly well as a clean screen recording with a good voiceover. We'll tell you which, because there's no point paying for a crew to film a software menu.
Making training films people don't dread
Training films have a bad reputation. Most people picture a presenter in front of a white wall, or a voiceover that sounds like it was recorded in a cupboard in 1998. Most of the fix is tone. A film that sounds like a person explaining something to a colleague gets watched, and a film that sounds like a policy document gets clicked through.
The same instinct runs through all our work. The OakNorth culture film was made for candidates rather than new starters. It was built the same way, though, by spending time with the people who work there and letting them explain the place in their own words.
FAQ
Why use video for staff training?
A training film says the same thing to the first person and the five hundredth, it's there when someone needs it, and it's the best way to show anything physical or safety critical.
Should training videos use actors or staff?
Usually your own staff. People trust a colleague they recognise, and someone who does the task every day demonstrates it more naturally than an actor.
How do you keep training videos up to date?
Make them as short modules, each with one objective. When a process changes, only that module is reshot.
Can training videos have subtitles in other languages?
Yes. Training films are delivered with subtitles, and captions in other languages can be added for teams that need them.
Related services
Training films are one of our video production services. When the subject is a product, explainer video production is the closer fit. Training often sits inside a wider corporate video production project. In clinical settings, video production for healthcare explains how we handle sign-off and patient consent.
If you've got training that needs to be on screen, tell us what it is and who it's for.
Work in this area
All the work. Films like these often sit alongside explainer videos.
Three things people ask
- What does it cost?
- Most production companies won't tell you until you've had a call. What things cost
- How long does it take?
- Four to six weeks from brief to delivery, for most projects. How we work
This is one of the ways we work, and the whole range is on the video production services page. People reading about training videos often go on to explainer videos and corporate video. You can see the approach at work in the OakNorth case study, and for a sector where staff need to learn the same thing the same way, read video production for healthcare. Guides that go with it: how to write a video script and video for HR teams.
Tell us the problem.
We'll tell you honestly which kind of film would solve it, or whether a film is the answer at all. Thirty minutes with one of our team.
A thirty minute conversation with the team. No obligation.